SUE Lawrence again excelled in the British Masters Track and Field
Championships held in Birmingham on Saturday and Sunday. She picked up
2 silver medals in the shot and hammer. The hammer throw went well but
she lost out by just 56cm to the ultimate winner. Her distance was
36.77m. Her 9.68m shot put
was good enough for silver in the 40+ category.
Don Lawless competed in the same Championships. He took a bronze in the
3000m steeplechase for the 50+ age group. His time was 12m8s. Don’s
technique over the water jump let him down and when he rectifies this
he will always be a strong contender for medals in this event.
In the Kirsty 5 mile road race held in Rayleigh Thurrock’s 6 runners
all finished in the first 20. Paul Green finished 5th, Keith Willett, a newcomer to the sport, finished 8th, Jason Syrett was pleased with his 10th position,
John Russell was 13th, Mick Bumstead 14th and Gary Cahill 16th. This
race is a multi terrain event where recent rains turned most of the
course into a mudbath.
In the Darlington 10K Bernie Johnson had his best run for some years to
finish in a time of 43m47s. His son David, now living in the North
East, ran a fine pb of 35m33s.
Nick Houghton, whose appearances for the Club have been very sparse
recently, finished 2nd in an all night 50 mile event. His time was
7hr58m10s. It is to be hoped that he did not have to get up for work
the next morning!!
Thurrock’s track and field season finished off with a home fixture. One
of the performances of the day was an excellent 3000m from Toni Noble
who recorded 12m30s in windy conditions. The women’s middle distance
squad fielded all but one of their events on this occasion but
depressingly the turnout from the men was poor.
The person disappointed most with this season would be Michael Shortall who turned out in every match to score at least 25 points in the Club’s totals. Michael again had an unbeaten season in the hurdles events and has won medals at
County and Regional levels. Hopefully by next season the Club can
organise its endurance running section sufficiently well for every
match and only then can they consider gaining promotion.
